diff --git a/SAS/TMSS/test/t_subtask_validation.py b/SAS/TMSS/test/t_subtask_validation.py
index be11f874b934fbe8fab89c8928e3835fe98c24ce..0481e80e22b1493e273dc0ebfb3a4202b5c7068f 100755
--- a/SAS/TMSS/test/t_subtask_validation.py
+++ b/SAS/TMSS/test/t_subtask_validation.py
@@ -27,16 +27,23 @@ import logging
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 logging.basicConfig(format='%(asctime)s %(levelname)s %(message)s', level=logging.INFO)
 
-# Do Mandatory setup:
-# use setup/teardown magic for tmss test database
-# (ignore pycharm unused import statement, python unittests does use at RunTime the tmss_database_unittest_setup module)
-from lofar.sas.tmss.test.tmss_database_unittest_setup import *
+# Do Mandatory setup step:
+# use setup/teardown magic for tmss test database, ldap server and django server
+# (ignore pycharm unused import statement, python unittests does use at RunTime the tmss_test_environment_unittest_setup module)
+from lofar.sas.tmss.test.tmss_test_environment_unittest_setup import *
+
 
 from lofar.sas.tmss.test.tmss_test_data_django_models import *
 
+# import and setup rest test data creator
+from lofar.sas.tmss.test.tmss_test_data_rest import TMSSRESTTestDataCreator
+rest_data_creator = TMSSRESTTestDataCreator(BASE_URL, AUTH)
+
 from lofar.sas.tmss.tmss.tmssapp import models
 from lofar.sas.tmss.tmss.exceptions import SpecificationException
 
+import requests
+
 class SubtaskValidationTest(unittest.TestCase):
     @staticmethod
     def create_subtask_template(schema):
diff --git a/SAS/TMSS/test/test_utils.py b/SAS/TMSS/test/test_utils.py
index d64d416d2582f599099658dfbbf659ab1820d7f8..6b866ad89eb965aa867bab0efc72b62ec30ee960 100644
--- a/SAS/TMSS/test/test_utils.py
+++ b/SAS/TMSS/test/test_utils.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 import os
 import time
 from multiprocessing import Process, Event
+import django
 
 import logging
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
@@ -143,6 +144,14 @@ class TMSSDjangoServerInstance():
         ''':returns the temporary LDAP Credentials'''
         return DBCredentials().get(self._ldap_dbcreds_id)
 
+    def setup_django(self):
+        # (tmss)django is initialized via many environment variables.
+        # set these here, run django setup, and start the server
+        os.environ["TMSS_LDAPCREDENTIALS"] = self.ldap_dbcreds_id
+        os.environ["TMSS_DBCREDENTIALS"] = self.database_dbcreds_id
+        os.environ["DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE"] = "lofar.sas.tmss.tmss.settings"
+        django.setup()
+
     def start(self):
         '''
         Start the Django server with a test-LDAP server in the background.
@@ -152,14 +161,7 @@ class TMSSDjangoServerInstance():
             logger.info("Starting Django server at port=%d with database: %s and LDAP: %s",
                         self.port, self.database_dbcreds, self.ldap_dbcreds)
 
-            # (tmss)django is initialized via many environment variables.
-            # set these here, run django setup, and start the server
-            os.environ["TMSS_LDAPCREDENTIALS"] = self.ldap_dbcreds_id
-            os.environ["TMSS_DBCREDENTIALS"] = self.database_dbcreds_id
-            os.environ["DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE"] = "lofar.sas.tmss.tmss.settings"
-
-            import django
-            django.setup()
+            self.setup_django()
             django.core.management.call_command('runserver',
                                                 use_reloader=False,
                                                 addrport=self.address)
@@ -240,6 +242,11 @@ class TMSSTestEnvironment:
         self.database.create()
         self.django_server.start()
 
+        # apart from the running django server with a REST API,
+        # it is also convenient to provide a working django setup for the 'normal' django API (via models.objects)
+        # so: do setup_django
+        self.django_server.setup_django()
+
     def stop(self):
         self.django_server.stop()
         self.ldap_server.stop()
@@ -257,6 +264,7 @@ class TMSSTestEnvironment:
     def __exit__(self, exc_type, exc_val, exc_tb):
         self.stop()
 
+
 def main_test_database():
     """instantiate, run and destroy a test postgress django database"""
     os.environ['TZ'] = 'UTC'